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Monday, 28 March 2011

Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead

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ArtsJunktion runs smoothly thanks to the tireless work of many dedicated volunteers. We are always looking for new volunteers so if you have﻿ some spare time and the desire to do some good in your community, drop in on us during open hours and work with us!

Tucked around the corner from Cre8tery Gallery and Art Supply store at 312B William Avenue in the Exchange District of Winnipeg is ArtsJunktion Recycling depot.

I've told you about them before. As a reminder they are a non-profit art supply recycling depot. Centred around recycled supplies of all types for teachers, artists and the community.

K2 and I spent a few hours volunteering there on Saturday. She still needed a few more hours towards her Holocaust trip and I thought this was an organisation we could both go and support.

Chloe, the depot manager is super friendly and helped us settle in quickly by letting us pick an area we wanted to clean up and organise the displays. K2 quickly gravitated toward the yarn and sewing notions which were a big tangled mess. She's always untangled these types of messes for me and has more patience than I do!

We had fun and found a few treasures for ourselves while we were at it.

It was interesting to see how busy the depot is on a Saturday. People were constantly coming and going with donations or making selections. Their system has people noting the cubic feet of donations and withdrawals and it's so great to see so many unwanted items being saved from going to landfill.

Monday, 21 March 2011

Every now and then we make the perfect pairing! Like choosing the ideal wine to compliment your meal, finding the exact piece of "junk" that you need is pretty satisfying!

For example, this story comes from volunteer Geri:

"Several months ago we were given boxes and boxes and boxes of those long foamie strips (see Fig. 1). Not too many people are interested in them and they stuck around for months. When I was working at AJ on Monday, about half an hour before closing time a young grade 3 teacher came in for the first time. She spent awhile looking and as she was leaving I asked her if she managed to get some stuff that she could use. She looked a bit downcast and said.....only a bit. Then she said she is doing sculptures with her grade 3 class and didn't know what to take so she hadn't taken hardly anything. I showed her a box of the foam strips and showed her how her students might use them and her face lit up and she was really excited. She took 5 boxes of them! I asked her if she would send pictures of her students' art once they are done.
I felt really good because I was able to pair her with some junk that was perfect for her project."